


Starlight, Starbright

by WildWolf25



Series: Shatt Week 2017 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Bonding, Camping, Confession, I am not sorry for the occasional pun, M/M, Matt loves astronomy, Nerds in Love, Road Trips, Shatt Week 2017, but maybe the true love was the friend he made along the way, past shallura, the author really wants to go to a national park
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 17:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11810346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildWolf25/pseuds/WildWolf25
Summary: It started when Matt slammed down an article from an astronomy magazine onto the cafeteria table at lunch one day and declared that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the clearest meteor shower in two hundred years and he wasn’t going to miss it.“Okay,” Shiro said slowly, looking up from the magazine article to the determined expression on Matt’s face.  “Are you planning on camping out in the backyard?”“Even bigger.”  Matt said.  “Camping in Arches National Park.”Shiro raised an eyebrow at that.  “And how, exactly, are you planning to get there?”Matt just flashed him a wicked grin.  “Didn’t you say you always wanted to go on a cross-country road trip?”“You only want me for my car.”  Shiro feigned offense and turned up his nose dramatically.“No, you ding-dong, I want you because you’re my best friend and I can’t imagine going on an adventure like this without you.”  Matt lightly rapped him over the head with the rolled-up astronomy magazine.  “And besides, who else could put up with me in a car for fifteen and a half hours?”“Not even our lord and savior James Tiberius Kirk himself,” Shiro snorted.  “So when’s the meteor shower?  I’m in.”





	Starlight, Starbright

**Author's Note:**

> And in a complete 180 from the previous day (yeesh, I gave myself whiplash with these two fics), here's day 3 (bonding) of Shatt Week. Prompts were: "I've never been so happy!", (late night) confessions, and road trip. I don't think I was supposed to incorporate all of them but whatever *hisses and clutches all the prompts to my chest*
> 
> Also being a writer means looking up google maps directions for the middle of the southwestern US when you live on the OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD, and then subsequently feeling sad because you can’t go to the place you’re writing about anymore (T^T)

Shiro drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, staring out at the open expanse of desert that stretched to the horizon as far as the eye could see on either side of the two-lane road they were parked on the shoulder of.  “It’s okay to admit if you don’t know where we are.”  He said.

“I know exactly where we are.  Utah.”  Matt frowned as his eyes flicked between the giant book of road maps on his lap and the phone in his other hand.  The GPS was showing their position as being in the middle of Sevier Lake.  Based on the fact that there was not a drop of water in sight besides the mirage shimmering on the hot asphalt, he didn’t think that was correct.  

“Utah’s a big state.”  Shiro pointed out.

“Western Utah.”  

“My apologies.  That narrows it down so much.”  Shiro said dryly.  “We’ve eliminated a whole half of the state.”

“Don’t get sassy with me.”  Matt spared him a quick glare as he tapped his phone again, trying to get it to load.  Stupid signal…

“No need to be so  _ salty _ .”  Shiro smirked.  Matt gave him a curious look.  Shiro reached over and tapped the large lake in the upper corner of the map with his finger.  “Salt Lake.”  

“I hate you.”  Matt groaned.

“Yeah, that’s totally why you asked me to go on a road trip with you, because you hate me so much.”  Shiro snorted.  

“Exactly.”  Matt sighed and turned his phone off.  Useless technology.  “Alright, let’s drive for another ten miles or so.  If we don’t see any towns, I guess we’ll have to turn around and go back to the last junction we were at.”

“Sounds like half a plan.  I’m into it.”  Shiro put the car in drive and pulled onto the road again.  

“You didn’t check over your shoulder, mister expert driver.”

“There is literally no one on this road.”  Shiro said.  “If this mission is lost, let the record show that it’ll be due to navigational error, not pilot error.”  

“Rude.”  Matt huffed.  “You can walk home.”  

“Matt, you  _ can’t drive _ .”  Shiro reminded him.  

“And that’s why I need to keep you on my good side with snacks.”  Matt said, pulling out the last two packages of fruit gushers and tearing one open before handing it to Shiro.  

“Bribery is appreciated.”  Shiro let go of the steering wheel with one hand to pick out a few gushers.  

“Gasp, keep your hands on the wheel.”  Matt deadpanned.

“It’s a  _ straight line _ .”  

Matt bit his tongue to keep from quipping “ _ as straight as I’m not _ .”  No, Shiro didn’t need to know that.  It wasn’t like he was keeping it a secret, or anything like that.  There was a fine line between keeping a secret and just not saying anything about it (a very,  _ very  _ fine line).  He just didn’t want to risk Shiro getting weirded out and jeopardizing their friendship.  The two of them had been best friends ever since that fateful day in first grade when Shiro’s family moved in down the street and Matt nearly ran him over with an out-of-control wagon careening down the hill.  Shiro had said he had never been in a wagon before, Matt had grabbed his hand and dragged him up the hill to show him how fast they could go, and the two had been thick as thieves by the time their mothers were both out looking for them around dinnertime.  

Science fair projects, the tumultuous middle school years, marching band, high school, homecoming dances… The two of them had been through everything together, which was why Matt couldn’t risk making things weird between them by mentioning that he was into guys.  The five months during their junior year where Shiro had been dating a girl from their school, Allura, and consequently spent less time hanging out with Matt had been a little hard on him, because he had never had to share his best friend with anyone before.  Even harder than that was the aftermath of their breakup, where Matt had had to juggle helping Shiro pick himself up again after having his heart broken and applying to colleges for himself.  Well, he hadn’t really wanted to go to MIT, anyway.  Too far from home.

Graduating high school and going off to college was the reason they were doing this road trip.  Well, that, and Matt slamming down an article from an astronomy magazine onto the cafeteria table at lunch one day and declaring that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the clearest meteor shower in two hundred years and he wasn’t going to miss it.  

_ “Okay,” Shiro had said slowly, looking up from the magazine article to the determined expression on Matt’s face.  “Are you planning on camping out in the backyard?”   _

_ “Even bigger.”  Matt had said.  “Camping in Arches National Park.”   _

_ Shiro had raised an eyebrow at that.  “And how, exactly, are you planning to get there?” _

_ Matt had just flashed him a wicked grin.  “Didn’t you say you always wanted to go on a cross-country road trip?” _

_ “You only want me for my car.”  Shiro had feigned offense and turned up his nose dramatically. _

_ “No, you ding-dong, I want you because you’re my best friend and I can’t imagine going on an adventure like this without you.”  Matt had lightly rapped him over the head with the rolled-up astronomy magazine.  “And besides, who else could put up with me in a car for fifteen and a half hours?” _

_ “Not even our lord and savior James Tiberius Kirk himself,” Shiro had snorted.  “So when’s the meteor shower?  I’m in.” _

And so they had begun planning their trip.  Road maps were bought, the car was checked over, a campsite in the national park was secured, food and water were stockpiled, and accommodations were booked (mostly.  Their parents didn’t know that other than the campsite, they were planning on mostly spending the nights in their car to save money on hotel rooms).  Finally, the day after graduation, they hit the road, setting out from their neighborhood in San Jose and heading east.  Shiro, who actually loved driving quite a bit, was nominated pilot of their ‘expedition’, as Matt called it, while Matt was nominated co-pilot and thus in charge of all navigation and maps, distribution of snacks, and music control, although Shiro was allowed veto power as the driver (which he had only used once so far, after seven plays of  _ What’s New Pussycat _ in a row).  

Their first adventure had kicked off when they stopped at the last McDonald’s before the desert and discovered that the tent they had strapped to the roof of the car had apparently not been properly tied down and was most likely somewhere back along the side of I-680. The only outdoor store they could find had ridiculously overpriced and large tents, so they had decided to just wing it and park their car on the campsite and sleep there instead.  After that, it had been a half-day stop-over in Yosemite (featuring what Shiro called a lovely hike with a stunning view and what Matt had called a forced march and a mistake… that yes, did have a gorgeous view, he couldn’t deny that), a minor detour along Extraterrestrial Highway -- “I’m just saying, it couldn’t hurt to try…”  “Matt, if you suggest we break into Area 51 one more time, I will turn this car around and leave you in a ghost town.”  -- and quite possibly taking a wrong turn once they got back on the road after lunch in Beaver, Utah, and presently ending up on this seemingly-endless stretch of road in the desert that, frankly, looked identical to every other desert road they had taken.  This trip had involved a lot of ups and downs, both expected and unexpected, and there was no one else they would have chosen to spend it with.  That was why Matt couldn’t risk making things weird by mentioning that he might potentially have some not-entirely-platonic feelings about his best friend.  It was probably just the heat talking, after all.  Possibly sunstroke from the desert sun beating down on only his right arm where it was resting against the window.  A side-effect of the inevitable road trip bonding, surely.  They were just really,  _ really _ good friends.     

“Where’s Black Rock?”  Shiro asked, startling Matt out of his thoughts.  Matt jumped a little and scrambled for the road map book as they whipped past the city limits sign (could have fooled him, the desert looked just as empty as it had for the past hundred miles).  

“Um…” Matt scanned the sparse towns dotting the map.  “There!  Okay, so that means we’re on 257.  Not too far off track.  Keep going on this road, and then take Route 50 and we can hook back up with I-70 again.  Should only be a couple hours behind schedule.”  

“Sounds good.”  Shiro nodded, not even taking his eyes off the road and just trusting that Matt was right.  “Nice work, navigator.”

The casual praise sent a warm feeling curling in his chest, and Matt tried to tell himself it was the sun streaming through the windows. 

~~~~~

“I don’t buy it.”  Shiro laughed after Matt finished reading.  “I say it was an avalanche.”

“Because avalanches totally cause mysterious flying lights in the sky and superhuman traumatic injuries.”  Matt said.

“Avalanches are heavy.  And hypothermia can cause people to feel falsely hot, so that’s why they were found undressed.”  Shiro said.

“Radiation on their clothes, Shiro.  Avalanches are hardly radioactive.”  Matt pointed out.

“What kind of radiation?”  Shiro asked.

Matt frowned down at the article on his phone, scrolling further.  “It doesn’t say.  Why?”

“Well, a lot of things have radiation.”  Shiro said.  “Not all kinds are bad.”

“The kind from aliens is!”

“I say: avalanche, or sketchy Soviet missile testing.”  Shiro ticked them off on his fingers.  “Next conspiracy theory.”

“We’re not done with this one!”

“You’re right, Matt, it was probably the Yeti and aliens in cahoots with each other.”  Shiro snorted.

“I never said the Yeti theory had any credibility.”  Matt huffed.

“Coming up on another exit.”  Shiro lifted his chin toward the sign overhead.  “Is that the one we need?”  

Matt set down his phone and checked the map.  “Yep.  Get on US-191 toward Moab.”

“Thirty miles to go.”  Shiro grinned, feeling the excitement creep up on him again as he turned right.  “Actually, we might want to stop and refuel here, just to be safe.”  

They pulled off into a gas station with an attached fast-food chain next to it, and Shiro handed Matt a couple bucks to buy him a coffee while he got more gas.  He leaned back against the car and crossed his arms while he watched the numbers tick up on the gas counter.  He hadn’t really known what to expect from this trip, honestly.  A chance to see a spectacular meteor shower and hit up a few national parks along the way, which he would never complain about.  He had been confident enough in his and Matt’s friendship to trust that it would withstand fifteen and a half hours together in a small space without them biting each other’s heads off, and that had been true.  What he hadn’t expected, though, was for his feelings about Matt to start going the other way; rather than deteriorating, he was finding he was sliding further and further down that slippery slope towards attraction.  And his feelings hadn’t been 100% platonic before this road trip, to begin with.

Shiro had only been in one relationship so far, but it was one more than Matt had been in.  Allura had been fantastic, and Shiro had been completely infatuated.  He had thought that was love.  When it turned out that, even after five months of dating, they both weren’t on the same page with their feelings about each other, he had been devastated.  They had both agreed that a break-up would be for the best, and Shiro didn’t hold any negative feelings toward her anymore, but at the time… he had been crushed.  He had been ready to quit everything and become a full-time blanket-burrito hermit in a remote mountainside cave.  He probably would have, too, if not for Matt.  Matt, who had brought over ice cream and video games and pretended not to notice the redness around Shiro’s eyes, who had dragged him outside and coaxed him back into being human, who had slathered himself in SPF-75 and valiantly braved afternoon hikes in the nearby mountains just because he knew it would make Shiro feel better.  Matt, who had picked up the pieces of his heart and stitched them back into place with a smile and a dumb science joke to make Shiro laugh and feel like himself again.  Those stitches were bound to leave a lasting effect, though, and he didn’t want to start anything with Matt just because he was having rebound feelings.  That wouldn’t be fair to Matt, who deserved so much better, and he would never risk damaging their friendship just for a rebound fling.  

But here they were, a year and a half after Shiro’s breakup, and those feelings hadn’t faded.  He was starting to think they might never, especially after this road trip.  There was only so much he could write off as platonic fondness.  Belting out the lyrics to Queen’s greatest hits with him could be, but not the way some of the more romantic lines tugged at his heart and had him glancing at Matt out of the corner of his eyes.  Laughing and shaking his head at his friend when he held up a giant plush alien at a tourist trap along Extraterrestrial Highway could be, but not the thought that Matt’s attempt at puppy eyes was undeniably adorable.  Teasing him for dozing off against the window when he was supposed to be navigating could be, but not the overwhelming urge to take his hand instead of the map he was holding.

The dull  _ thunk  _ of the gas nozzle knocked him out of his thoughts, and he shook himself off as he removed it and screwed the gas cap back on.  He was just finishing up paying for the gas when Matt came skipping back to the car with two paper bags in his hands.  

“Bacon cheeseburger -- for you non-Kosher heathen -- with no pickle, medium fries, and a diet coke, as part of my payment for you driving.”  Matt said, handing him one of the two bags over the top of the car.  

“You know my usual order?”  Shiro asked, peering inside the bag.  It was more than he had given him money for, and Matt was already splitting the cost of gas with him, but he wasn’t about to say no to free food.  It was getting close to lunchtime, after all.

“Duh.”  Matt rolled his eyes and opened the passenger-side door.  “Bet you don’t know mine.”

Shiro snorted.  “Ten-piece chicken nuggets, medium fries -- you’d better not get that ketchup on my car seats -- and a mountain dew.”  

“You passed the best friend quiz.  Good job.”  Matt said, taking the bag Shiro had set on the center console while he got back on the road.

“Fry me.”  Shiro leaned over while keeping his eyes on the road as he merged onto the highway again.  Matt reached into his bag and grabbed a couple fries, poking him in the cheek playfully before putting them in his mouth.  “F’anks, m’ dude.”

“You’re disgusting.”  Matt laughed, setting both their drinks in the cup holders.      

~~~~~

“I spy something… reddish-brown.”  

“I spy something that’s about to get himself kicked out of this car.”  

“Fine, then I will walk the rest of the way.”  

“You’re only saying that because we’re less than a mile from the park.”  Shiro snorted.  “Do you have our campsite reservation stuff?”

“Yep,” Matt shuffled through the maps and step-by-step driving directions his mother had insisted on printing out for him.  They hadn’t even taken her suggested route, but he accepted them anyway, as mothers would be mothers.  He located the confirmation page from the NPS and held it up.  “Good thing we did this ahead of time.  I managed to snag the last open campsite when I called.  Seems they’re totally booked for the meteor shower.”  

“Oh, so you won’t be the only nerd there.”  Shiro quipped.

“No, because  _ you’ll  _ be with me.”  Matt shot him a look.  “Mister-I-got-hammered-for-the-first-time-at-my-cousin’s-and-drunk-dialed-my-best-friend-at-three-AM-to-tell-him-about-the-National-Geographic-special-I-was-watching.”

“It was about aurora borealis!  I thought you’d appreciate it!”  Shiro defended.  

“And I did, but I enjoyed the blackmail of witnessing you calling solar wind disrupting the magnetosphere ‘ _ nature’s LSD _ ’ more.”  Matt said.  

“Oh, like I don’t have nerd-dirt on you.”  Shiro jerked his thumb behind him at the back seat.  “Who was it that decided he  _ absolutely needed  _ a four-foot-tall alien plushie?”

“For the irony if nothing else.”  Matt huffed.  

“The  _ irony  _ of spending thirty-five bucks on a plush alien?”  Shiro asked.

“Hey look, we’re here!”  Matt pointed to the sign that read  _ Arches National Park _ .  Shiro chuckled and shook his head fondly as he pulled off the main road.  They found the campground, checked in with the park ranger and got a map and a lecture about the rules of the park, then made their way down the winding road to their campsite.  It was pretty far removed from the rest of the campsites and the facilities, quite obviously the last available spot, but Matt said that would just increase their visibility for the meteor shower.  They parked their car and had little to do for set-up, as their poor tent was somewhere along the side of the road back in California, so they grabbed some water and granola bars and headed down the trail to look at the magnificent rock structures, trading theories back and forth about what had caused the different formations.  The natural erosion theory prevailed, of course, but Matt pointed out that there was no way to know for certain that aliens  _ weren’t _ involved in some way. 

Back at their campsite, they made a fire and used their picnic table to make pasties filled with beef, potatoes, and other vegetables, hauled all the way there in the cooler Shiro had been sleeping next to for the past few nights.  They wrapped the pasties in foil and put them over the campfire (Shiro constructing a tin foil hat and jamming it onto Matt’s head while he was turning the pasties over), and ate them just as the sun was about to set.  The sun hadn’t disappeared over the mountains for even two minutes before Matt was bouncing around begging to put the fire out, but he settled down (aside from his foot jiggling impatiently) when Shiro reminded him that they wouldn’t be able to see any meteors until it actually got dark.  They packed up the rest of the food back into the car while there was still a bit of dusky light in the sky to work by, then sat around what remained of their fire, now glowing dully.

After checking to make sure that the embers was dying down properly, Shiro flipped up the hood of his sweatshirt and stretched out on his back on the dirt, hands pillowing the back of his head.  “Wake me up when it starts.”

“Mmhm,” Matt hummed, leaning back on his hands to watch the afterglow painting the sky with deep pink and purple hues.

Shiro closed his eyes and his thoughts started to wander as he dozed off.  The fire let out a pop near his feet, a burnt log crumbling into embers.  He heard a shuffle to his right and cracked an eye open to find Matt sweeping away a couple of large pebbles before laying down as well, gaze fixed on the sky.  Shiro closed his eyes again and let out a sigh, breathing in the crisp, cool air of the desert night and the sharp, smoky scent of the fire.  This was heaven.  He would gladly stay out here forever.  At the very least, he would like to take more road trips with Matt like this in the future.  Even though that might not be good news for his poor heart and this crush he had developed on his best friend.  He didn’t even know if Matt liked guys.  Oddly enough, sexuality was the one thing that had never really come up between them.  It didn’t really feel like something that needed to be said out loud.  Sure, Shiro had told his sister he was bi, but that was only because the general topic had already been broached by her telling him she was trans.  But other than that, he hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, not even when he had been dating Allura.  He didn’t feel like he was  _ hiding  _ it, exactly, the subject was just… never brought up, not with Matt.  He was kind of wishing it had, because it would help him know if this attraction was something that could be reciprocated or if he should just keep it to himself, tamp it down like sand over the embers of a fire.

~~~~~

The next time he woke up, it was to Matt shaking his arm.  “Shiro!  Shiro, wake up!”  He whispered, sounding excited.

Shiro groaned and pried his eyes open, having to blink against the near-pitch darkness.  “Whuzzgoin’on?”

“It’s started!”  The starlight flashed off Matt’s teeth as he grinned.  

Shiro peered up at the sky.  It was a clear, cloudless night -- typical for a desert -- and there were more stars visible than he had ever seen before.  He could even clearly make out the arch of the Milky Way spilling across the sky at an angle, surrounded by white and ice-blue pinpricks of light.  All of them were still, however.  “I thought this was a meteor shower?”  He asked, sitting up.  

“It is.  They’re not constant, though.”  Matt said.  “Just watch; another one’ll come soon.”  

They didn’t have long to wait.  Less than a minute later, a streak of white flashed across the sky, winking past so quickly he nearly missed it.  Beside him, Matt gasped and pointed, but the meteor was already gone.  “There!  Did you see it?”  

“I did.”  Shiro smiled.  “So do we get to wish on every shooting star we see?”

“We’ll get a lot of wishes, then.”  Matt chuckled.  

_ I’ve only got one _ , Shiro thought, before he could help himself.  

“There’s another!”  Matt gasped, pointing.  “Woah, and another!  This is really rare!”  

By then, Shiro’s eyes had adjusted somewhat to the dim light, and he snuck a glance over at Matt.  He could just barely see him, just enough to know that he was peering up at the sky with an awestruck expression as his gaze sought out more meteors.  

“Wow, they’re really going now!”  Matt breathed, sounding amazed.  Flashes of light blinked by every few seconds, the glow of the starlight lighting up Matt’s face.  “I knew it was big but I never thought it would be this many… I’ve never been so happy!”  He grinned up at the sky.

Shiro realized he hadn’t been looking at the stars for a few moments now, instead sitting with his gaze locked on Matt’s awestruck face.  “Matt… I think I’m in love with you.”  He said quietly, his heart pounding.  

Matt stopped, his smile faltering as he tore his eyes away from the sky and looked at Shiro, stunned.  Then a grin stretched over his lips and he laughed.  Shiro’s heart clenched in terror; laughing was not the reaction he had expected from this spur-of-the-moment confession.

“I take that back.   _ Now  _ I’ve never been so happy.”  Matt smiled softly.  

“You… wha…?”  Shiro’s brain felt like it had stalled out.

“I think I’m in love with you, too.”  Matt said, shifting slightly so that the fingertips of his hands, splayed on the ground behind him, touched Shiro’s.  Another meteor, brighter than the others, streaked past and was reflected in Matt’s eyes.  “Can I kiss you?”

Not a lot of things have genuinely knocked Shiro’s breath out of his chest -- the view from the edge of the Grand Canyon, a newborn baby lion at the zoo, a strike of lightning so close it made his hair stand on end, and a bad tackle in a football game -- but those four words certainly did.  “Yes.”  He said, barely above a whisper, and leaned forward to meet Matt halfway.  They bumped noses a bit, and Matt came at him a little faster than he was expecting, but it was perfect.  Matt slid a little closer to him, hand coming to rest on top of his.  After a couple of minutes, Shiro pulled back, feeling breathless despite the chaste nature of the kiss.  “We’re here to see the stars,” he reminded him quietly.  “They won’t be here long.  I’ll always be, though.”  

“I suppose you’re right.”  Matt chuckled and scooted closer, tucking himself under Shiro’s arm as they both lay back.  Shiro threaded their fingers together and rested them on their joined hips, enjoying the warmth of Matt pressed close to his side as they watched meteor after meteor streak past.   They laid there for what was probably hours, long enough for some of the constellations they were looking at to shift in the sky.  They didn’t bother to check the time, their phones abandoned in the car after they were done taking pictures of the rock formations.  The time didn’t matter, anyway.  All that mattered was Matt lying beside him and squeezing his hand whenever another meteor winked by, whispering the names of constellations and planets as they leisurely sought them out.

Finally, as the minutes stretched on between meteors, Matt was forced to admit that the shower was probably over.  They stood up from their places on the ground, brushed the reddish-brown dirt off their clothes, and went back to Shiro’s SUV.  Shiro opened the back and pushed the cooler back to its place off to the side, rolling out his sleeping bag, while Matt opened the backseat-passenger door and hesitated, looking thoughtful for a minute.  

“Maybe it’s too sudden, but…” Matt glanced at him, and Shiro wondered if it was a trick of the starlight or if he was blushing.  “Can we… um…”  His eyes flicked to the back of the car, where Shiro had been sleeping the past few nights alongside the cooler and a bag of food and snacks, a US road map book wedged under his pillow.  Matt’s ‘ironically-purchased’ four-foot gray alien was back there, too, and Shiro had most definitely  _ not  _ woken up hugging it by accident, just like Matt most certainly did not have photographic evidence of that on his phone.  Matt, on the other hand, had been sleeping along the backseat of the car, turned on his side so as not to fall onto the floor.  Shiro, likewise, most certainly did  _ not  _ have photographic evidence of Matt rolling off the seat and smacking his head on the floor, nor had he laughed at him as he handed him a bag of ice from the cooler to put on his head.

Shiro looked around.  “I think we can fit two back here, if we move the food up to the backseat.”  

Matt’s eyes brightened as he smiled and nodded.  Shiro passed him up the food bag, then hauled the mostly-empty cooler out and set it on the floor behind the driver’s seat while Matt threw his sleeping bag and pillow into the back.  They shut the backseat doors and climbed into the trunk, and it was a bit of a tight squeeze while they were both shuffling around getting their sleeping bags out.  Opening up both of the sleeping bags, they put one down to lay on and pulled the other on top of themselves like a blanket.  They ended up facing each other on their sides, but migrated even closer in their sleep so that they woke up with their arms curled around one another, a development that was not unwelcome in the slightest.

**Author's Note:**

> Mad bants and space nerds being nerds in a national park ~(^_^)~ this is self-indulgence at it’s finest. There doesn't need to be any conifer trees in this national park because these boys are PINING enough on their own ;D
> 
> If it interests you, the conspiracy theory they were discussing in the middle is [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident), which you might have heard of if you follow the [Buzzfeed Unsolved Mysteries series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQpNdevrtiM&list=PLVAvUrL_VQiNZYyMnmzLZs8_W9l-WBqm-&index=22). I think Matt would be a big fan. I headcanon the boy loves his science, but has a sweet spot for conspiracy theories. He can *SOMETIMES* drag Shiro into at least considering them, too.


End file.
